Arnold Karthaus Reese
Arnold Karthaus Reese (1867-1932) of GKN
1932 Obituary [1]
ARNOLD KARTHAUS REESE had a distinguished career as an expert on blast-furnace practice. During the War he played a prominent part in the organization of the production of iron and steel to meet the enormous requirements of the time.
He was born in Baltimore, U.S.A. in 1867 and educated in that city. Later he entered the Lehigh University and graduated in 1891 in mining engineering. He was successful within three years in improving on the best fuel ratio in the manufacture of iron at a works in Ohio, where he was superintendent. He also held this position at works in Maryland and Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
In 1901 he accepted an appointment to superintend the construction of four blast-furnaces at Messrs. Guest, Keen and Nettlefold's works at Cardiff. He subsequently became general manager of this firm's iron and steel operations.
After the War Mr. Reese took up consulting work, and included among the important undertakings for which he was responsible was the erection in South Africa in 1926 of the first blast-furnace for the manufacture of the pig-iron produced in that country.
He had been in South Africa for two years superintending the construction of large steel plant at Pretoria for the South-African Government, when his death occurred suddenly at Johannesburg on 11th December 1932.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1906, and was also a Member of the Iron and Steel Institute, before whom he had read a paper.
1933 Obituary [2]
ARNOLD KARTHAUS REESE died in Johannesburg on December 10, 1932, at the age of sixty-five, after a very brief illness.
Born in Baltimore, U.S.A., in 1867, he received his early education in the public schools of that city. He acquired his technical training at Lehigh University, and graduated with the degree of mining engineer in 1891.
His first engagement was with the Pennsylvania Steel Co., at Sparrow's Point, Md., where he soon gained a reputation as an expert in blast-furnace practice. His work there and at other plants - at Canal-Dover, Ohio, where, as superintendent, he broke the long-standing record for the fuel ratio in the manufacture of iron - led to an offer in 1902 from Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds, Ltd., to build four blast-furnaces on American lines at their Cardiff works; his acceptance of this offer marked the end of his American career. Later he became general manager of the company's iron and steel operations.
During the World War Mr. Reese was placed in charge of the nation's iron and steel production by the Ministry of Munitions. Previously he had given evidence before the Board of Trade regarding the condition of the Iron and Steel Industry, and this evidence was published in a Blue Book.
After the war he established himself as a consultant. He superintended the construction of the first blast-furnace built in South Africa, and in 1926 made the first pig iron ever produced in that country.
The last two years of Mr. Reese's life were spent in South Africa, where he acted as adviser to the Government of the Union in laying out the large new ironworks of the South African Iron and Steel Industrial Corporation, Ltd., at Pretoria.
Mr. Reese presented two papers to the Iron and Steel Institute, one on "Copper Tuyeres for Blast-Furnaces " in 1918, and the other on "The Basis of Modern Blast-Furnace Practice " in 1922.
He had joined the Institute in 1903.